UTK professor donates lute to Lipscomb's early music program

 | 09/04/2003

An architecture professor at The University of Tennessee-Knoxville has donated a valuable Renaissance lute to the Department of Music at Lipscomb University. Dr. Marian Moffett, associate professor of architecture at UT-K, donated the instrument to be used by Lipscomb's Early Music Consort, directed by Dr. Gerald Moore, professor of music. The lute, valued at $1,700, was Moffett's second donation to Lipscomb's early music program. She also donated a viola da gamba, or bass viol, to Lipscomb last year. The bass viol was valued at $1,000. Though her academic field is architectural history, Moffett said she developed an interest renaissance music about seven years ago when she started playing viola da gamba at Mountain Collegium, a workshop in early music held every July. It was at Mountain Collegium that Moffett met Moore, who was on the faculty at the workshop. Through her contact with Moore and her friendship with Lipscomb student and fellow viola da gamba player Bria Baker, Moffett said she gained a great respect for the early music program at Lipscomb. "After getting the lute, it became apparent to me that I was not going to become proficient on that instrument, so I am happy to pass it to students who will learn to play it," said Moffett. "It's a lovely instrument, and I am so very happy that it has found a good home." "What Dr. Moore has done at Lipscomb is exemplary, for it is rare that college students encounter early music," said Moffett. Moffett cites the University of Tennessee as an example of the rarity of early music. She said that though UT's school of music is five times the size of Lipscomb's, the school has no program in early music. Lipscomb offers a focus on early music through its Early Music Consort, a music ensemble that combines Medieval and Renaissance music with ethnic styles from around the world and employs both voices and historical and ethnic instruments. "Mark Godwin, our private guitar instructor and lute teacher is especially pleased with the high quality of the lute," said Moore. "Both are welcomed additions to our collection of medieval, renaissance and ethnic musical instruments." Michael Rickelton, a sophomore music major, who attended the Mountain Collegium this past July, will be playing the lute and Jennifer Mente, a sophomore music minor, will be playing the viola da gamba in the Early Music Consort. "In our consort, the instruments will often be combined with harps, psaltery, guitars, violin and harpsichord," said Moore. The Early Music Consort is open to all Lipscomb students by audition. Performances include one major concert per semester, occasional out-of-town engagements, and an elaborate Madrigal Dinner at Christmastime. Widely used in the 16th and 17th centuries, these early instruments can be used as either solo or ensemble instruments. The lute is a plucked string instrument and resembles the guitar but evolved from a Middle Eastern instrument called the ud. The viola da gamba is a bowed string instrument and resembles a cello but is more closely related to the guitar.